Get Ready4Learning Intervention

The GR4L intervention is an 18-week programme delivered by Teaching Assistants (TAs) selected by each school. They all attended a 3-day training course and received additional supervision throughout by the research team. Each TA was provided with manuals containing teaching sessions and resources.

GR4L Training Course (from l-r) : Silke Fricke - Blanca Schaefer and Gill Millard with GR4L Teaching Assistants - Blanca Schaefer

The programme is designed to help improve children’s vocabulary, develop their narrative skills, encourage active listening, and build confidence in independent speaking. It ran over 18 weeks, divided into two 9 week blocks, and children received 3 group sessions and 2 individual sessions per week. The overall structure of the programme can be seen in the figure below.

While GR4L is based on previous intervention programmes, it has been modified to reflect the needs of children with EAL. For example, the material aims to allow the EAL children to expand their English language skills and knowledge of English culture as well as valuing their own cultural experiences. The programme has been written to encourage active participation on the part of the child.

Children are taught using multi-contextual techniques within a repetitive framework. The activities have been designed to be enjoyable and to encourage the children to actively engage with each other and with the teaching assistant delivering the programme. The programme has been designed in consultation with Early Years practitioners, Speech and Language Therapists, and the EMTAS Team from Sheffield City Council.

The vocabulary instruction uses the multi-contextual approach to teaching vocabulary proposed by Beck and colleagues (2002/2013). This approach includes giving children frequent and varied opportunities to encounter and use the words in multiple contexts encouraging them to make links between words. Different words types (nouns, verbs, adjectives) are included in the programme giving children the basic elements to construct meaningful sentences.

The content is broken down into 6 different topics: Me & My Body, Things We Wear, People Around Us, Time, Journey and Growing. There are 9 group sessions per topic area; 8 sessions introducing new vocabulary and narrative work, and one consolidation session allowing children to reinforce what they have learnt. The timetables for each group session in Part 1 and Part 2 can be seen in the figures below.

The individual sessions also serve as vocabulary consolidation sessions tailored to each child’s needs and introduce work on phonological awareness. The figures below show the timetables for each individual session in Part 1 and Part 2.